Abattoir issues

THUNDER BAY -- The area's only abattoir might be in jeopardy, but Oliver-Paipoonge says it has a solution.

Thunder Bay Meat Processing has been in the area for more than 50 years. Until recently its nearly 6,000 pounds of weekly offal was put in the municipality's nearby landfill without issue.

But a complaint about smell has the Ministry of the Environment looking for changes.

Oliver-Paipoonge mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis said the changes would see the waste put in a separate pit with more soil cover put on top.

That's the option heading to council Monday night. If approved, she thinks that will be enough to satisfy the MOE.

"(Changes) aren't so extravagant that we can't do it so I don't that it would be a problem but I can't speak for five people I can only speak for me," Kloosterhuis said.

Local food consultant Raili Roy worries that the fix is a band-aid solution though and the abattoir will continue to face further changes. The municipality needs a long-term fix so that the dozens of farmers in the area can keep their livelihood. The closest abattoir is in Dryden.

"Without being able to process their animals they're not going to continue farming. We're not going to have any local meat anymore," she said. "Even dairy farmers need an abattoir. It would be catastrophic."